New Media Drivers Merged For Linux 7.1
The media subsystem updates have been merged for the ongoing Linux 7.1 merge window and includes new hardware support… ⌘ Read more

Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus Performance In 340+ Linux Benchmarks
Last month Intel began shipping the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus “Arrow Lake Refresh” desktop processor. This is a mighty interesting processor for the $349 USD price point with more cores and a larger cache compared to the Core Ultra 7 265K and capable of delivering much of the performance of the flagship Core Ultra 9 285K Arrow Lake processor. In today’s article is a look at how well the Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus performs under Linux wit … ⌘ Read more

AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10 Adds i686 User-Space Packages
The community-based AlmaLinux OS alternative to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) continues exploring ways to better differentiate it from upstream RHEL and other derivatives. The latest difference is AlmaLinux OS Kitten 10 adding i686 user-space packages for those wanting to run on a RHEL 10 based platform but still needing x86 32-bit user-space software compatibility… ⌘ Read more

Linux Mint 23 Making Progress On Ubuntu 26.04 Base, Linux 7.0 Kernel & Wayland
The Linux Mint project published their March 2026 monthly status update where they note the ongoing work toward Mint 23 “Alfa” that will be released under their new longer development lifecycle. Linux Mint 23 will be out for Christmas (December) 2026 atop an Ubuntu 26.04 LTS base… ⌘ Read more

Intel LASS In Good Shape For Linux 7.1
In addition to Linux 7.1 supporting FRED by default for Flexible Return and Event Delivery, another Intel CPU feature now in good shape for this next kernel version is Linear Address Space Separation (LASS)… ⌘ Read more

Linux Begins Removing Support For Russia’s Baikal CPUs
Beyond Linux 7.1 beginning to phase out Intel 486 CPU support, this next Linux kernel version is also beginning to remove driver code for supporting Russia’s Baikal CPUs… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.1 Picks Up The MMC Changes After Rejected By Linus In Linux 7.0
Back during the Linux 7.0 merge window the MMC changes were rejected by Linus Torvalds as “complete garbage” that wasn’t building properly and not vetted through linux-next. He went without pulling any MMC changes for the v7.0 cycle while now for Linux 7.1 the code has been better tested and successfully merged… ⌘ Read more

AMD Linux Graphics Driver Introducing “Power Module” To Better Match Windows Behavior
With the set of today’s AMDGPU kernel graphics driver Display Core (DC) patches is a rather curious addition with wiring up the Linux code to a “power module” that looks like it will better match Microsoft Windows behavior with the AMD Radeon driver around display-related power savings features… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.1 Delivers Performance Regression Fix For Sheaves
The Linux 7.1 kernel is bringing performance improvements for Sheaves, the per-CPU caching layer introduced several kernel cycles ago (Linux 6.18) for better efficiency on today’s high core count hardware. Sheaves began as an opt-in feature but since Linux 7.0 is now being used for all caches… ⌘ Read more

WQ_AFFN_CACHE_SHARD Merged For Linux 7.1: Significant Win For CPUs With Many Cores Per LLC
The workqueue changes merged today for the Linux 7.1 kernel are significant for today’s modern high-end processors where there can be many CPU cores per last level cache (LLC / L3 cache). The new WQ_AFFN_CACHE_SHARD affinity scope can reduce some contention on such systems and help achieve greater performance… ⌘ Read more

Arch Linux’s Archinstall 4.2 Fixes Botched Disk Encryption Security
Archinstall 4.2 is now available as the latest update to this very convenient, text-based Arch Linux OS installer… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.1 Is A Big Win For Intel Panther Lake With FRED Now Enabled By Default
Last month I ran benchmarks showing the very positive performance impact FRED has on Intel’s new Panther Lake processors while wondering why Flexible Return and Event Deliver wasn’t enabled by default yet on Linux. Hours after that story was published, an Intel engineer posted the patch to enable FRED by default with the rationale they were waiting for hardware to be publicly released in order to evaluate the performance benefit. D … ⌘ Read more

Intel Arc Pro B70 Open-Source Linux Performance Against NVIDIA RTX & AMD Radeon AI PRO
Last week after receiving the Intel Arc Pro B70 review hardware I began with some benchmarks looking at how the Arc Pro B70 compared to existing Intel GPUs on Linux with their fully open-source driver stack. Today’s article features the latest Arc Pro B70 benchmarks under Linux in looking at how the performance and value compares to other NVIDIA RTX and AMD Radeon (AI) PRO workstation graphics cards in the lab. ⌘ Read more

Fedora 45 To Consider Building x86_64-v3 Packages
A change proposal has been filed to build x86_64-v3 micro-architecture feature level packages alongside the existing x86_64-v1 packages for Fedora Linux… ⌘ Read more

Sched QoS For Linux Aims To Improve Scheduling & Inspired In Part By Apple’s QoS Classes
Linux developer Qais Yousef with Google has announced the alpha release of Sched QoS as a new initiative for user-space assisted scheduling. The scheduling model in turn is based in part on Apple’s quality of service classes used by iOS for classifying software as user interactive, user initiative, utility, or background tasks… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.1 Adds New Child Auto-Reap & PIDFD Auto-Kill Flags For clone3()
The clone3() system call in Linux 7.1 is adding three new flags for greater control over the creation of child processes… ⌘ Read more

AMD EDAC Driver In Linux 7.1 Adds Support For Zen 3 Rembrandt Hardware With ECC
The Error Detection And Correction “EDAC” subsystem updates have been merged for Linux 7.1 that deal with reporting of ECC memory errors and the like from various hardware drivers… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.1 Gets Rid Of Some Unnecessary Memory Clobbers
The x86/asm changes merged yesterday for the Linux 7.1 kernel with a few low-level improvements… ⌘ Read more

exFAT For Linux 7.1 Helps Reduce File Fragmentation, Fixes
The exFAT file-system changes have landed for the in-development Linux 7.1 kernel… ⌘ Read more

Linus Torvalds Merged The Code Beginning To Remove Intel 486 CPU Support In Linux 7.1
As a follow-up to the news first-covered on Phoronix earlier this month about Linux 7.1 expected to begin removing i486 CPU support: it indeed happened. Linus Torvalds took the initial removal bits today without any fuss today for beginning the phase out of M486 / M486SX / ELAN kernel support… ⌘ Read more

LLM-Assisted Patches For Linux 7.1 May Have Negative Impact On 32-bit Systems
Code now merged for the Linux 7.1 kernel may provide some negative performance implications for those still running modern Linux kernels on 32-bit hardware. A fundamental change can present cache line alignment and slab sizing implications for 32-bit Linux OS users but will provide for cleaner code with modern 64-bit computing… ⌘ Read more

Linus Torvalds Rejects Performance Fix “Hack” & Kconfig “Terrible Things” For Linux 7.1
While a lot of interesting new features and changes have been merged already for the Linux 7.1 merge window, two pull requests stand out so far for being rejected by Linus Torvalds and complete with his to-the-point commentary… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.1 Revamps T10 PI Data Integrity Handling For Better Read Performance
Merged yesterday for the Linux 7.1 kernel is overhauling the T10 PI code for generating and verifying data integrity information. In turn the new code is cleaner while also allowing for better read storage performance… ⌘ Read more

AMD Ready With CPPC Performance Priority & Dynamic/Raw EPP In Linux 7.1
All of the power management subsystem feature updates have been merged for the Linux 7.1 kernel… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.1 Lands ARM64 NEON-Accelerated CRC64-NVMe For ~6x Improvement
Merged yesterday were all the CRC code updates for the Linux 7.1 kernel. Most notable with that pull is an ARM64-optimized CRC64-NVMe implementation that can deliver multiple times faster performance… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.0 Released
“The new Linux kernel was released and it’s kind of a big deal,” writes longtime Slashdot reader rexx mainframe. “Here is what you can expect.” Linuxiac reports: A key update in Linux 7.0 is the removal of the experimental label from Rust support. That (of course) does not make Rust a dominant language in kernel development, but it is still an important step in its gradual integration into the project. Another notable security-related c … ⌘ Read more

user.* xattrs On Sockets Merged For Linux 7.1 As Sought By GNOME & systemd Developers
On this first day of the Linux 7.1 merge window, among the early pull requests merged were beginning to land the various VFS pull requests submitted by Christian Brauner. Among that code merged is enabling support for user.* extended attributes on sockets… ⌘ Read more

Rust For Linux 7.1 Bringing Experimental Option That Can Help Performance
In advance of the Linux 7.1 merge window opening, Miguel Ojeda sent out all of the Rust feature updates on Friday. This includes bumping the minimum Rust version for building the Linux kernel as well as a new experimental option that can provide better performance for Rust code within the kernel, alongside other updates… ⌘ Read more

FTRFS: New Fault-Tolerant File-System Proposed For Linux
Sent out today was an initial patch series for comment on introducing the FTRFS file-system. The FTRFS proposal is more interesting than last week’s VMUFAT file-system proposal… ⌘ Read more

Apple HFS / HFS+ File-System Support Seeing Many Fixes For Linux 7.1
Nearly one year ago to the day I noted Linux developers were considering the removal of the Apple HFS and HFS+ file-system drivers from the kernel. They were orphaned the past decade and turning into a maintenance burden for upstream developers. But then to some surprise, a few developers stepped up to maintain the HFS(+) drivers. One year later it’s proving to be a success story with more fixes for this aging Apple file-system support continui … ⌘ Read more

Btrfs Brings Performance Improvements, Shutdown ioctl Stable With Linux 7.1
Among the early pull requests sent out to Linus Torvalds even before the Linux 7.0 kernel officially released on Sunday were the Btrfs file-system updates. This feature-packed CoW file-system is seeing more performance optimizations for Linux 7.1 as well as its shutdown ioctl feature no longer being experimental and a variety of fixes… ⌘ Read more

GNU Linux-libre 7.0 Deals With Deblobbing More Drivers & Cleansing DT Files
Building off last night’s release of the Linux 7.0 kernel is now the GNU Linux-libre 7.0-gnu kernel release for that downstream kernel that removes support for loading non-free-software kernel modules, blocks the loading of loadable microcode/firmware even when it means greatly reduced hardware support, and other sanitization of code in the name of software freedom… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.0 Released With New Hardware Support, Optimizations & Self-Healing XFS
As expected the stable Linux 7.0 kernel was just released today in marking this next kernel release. The Linux 7.0 milestone comes due to Linus Torvalds’ preference of bumping the major version number after hitting X.19 as opposed to any single major change, but in any event there are a lot of great improvements and changes to find with this new kernel version. Linux 7.0 is also what’s powering the upcoming Ubuntu 26.04 LTS release… ⌘ Read more

Linux Out-Of-Bounds Access Fixed For Unprivileged Users With Specially Crafted Certs
An out-of-bounds access within the Linux kernel has existed in mainline the past three years that could be exploited by an unprivileged user submitting a specially crafted certificate to the kernel… ⌘ Read more

Greg Kroah-Hartman Tests New ‘Clanker T1000’ Fuzzing Tool for Linux Patches
The word clanker — a disparaging term for AI and robots — “has made its way into the Linux kernel,” reports the blog It’s FOSS “thanks to Greg Kroah-Hartman, the Linux stable kernel maintainer and the closest thing the project has to a second-in-command.”

He’s been quietly running what looks like an AI-assisted fuzzing tool o … ⌘ Read more

Many Wonderful Improvements Expected For Linux 7.1, Especially For AMD & Intel
With Linux 7.0 expected for release later today, in turn the Linux 7.1 merge window will kick off for the two week period of landing all sorts of exciting new features, changes, and removal of old features from the kernel. Here is a look at some of what is on the table for the Linux 7.1 merge window… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.0 Sees Last Minute Fix For Bogus Hardware Errors On AMD Zen 3
Ahead of the Linux 7.0 stable kernel release expected later today are some last minute pull requests sent out this morning. Notable for those using AMD Zen 3 hardware is addressing some bogus hardware errors that began appearing for some users on recent versions of the Linux kernel… ⌘ Read more

Trisquel 12.0 Released For Free Software Foundation Endorsed Distribution
For those sticking to absolute free software ideals, Trisquel 12.0 was released this weekend for this Free Software Foundation (FSF) approved distribution for only containing free software and foregoing loadable microcode/firmware and running on the Linux-libre kernel even with its reduced scope in hardware support… ⌘ Read more

AMD’s GAIA Now Allows Building Custom AI Agents Via Chat, Becomes “True Desktop App”
In addition to their efforts around the Lemonade SDK itself, AMD software engineers working on their AI initiatives continue to be investing quite a bit into the Lemonade-using GAIA, the project that originally stood for “Generative AI Is Awesome”. AMD’s GAIA now allows building your own custom AI agents via chatting with GAIA as well as becoming a “true desktop app” so it’s easier to deploy across Windows, Linux, and macOS envi … ⌘ Read more

Firefox vs. Chrome: Which Performs Better on a Linux Laptop?
Phoronix staged “a showdown” between Firefox and Chrome, testing them both on an Intel Panther Lake laptop running Ubuntu 26.04.

JetStream 3.0 was announced at the end of March as the latest major web browser benchmark. This updated version of JetStream is focused on intensive portions of modern JavaScript and WebAssembly web applications… Google Chrome … ⌘ Read more

RISC-V BeagleV Ahead Single Board Computer To See Working HDMI With Linux 7.1
The BeagleV Ahead is an open-source RISC-V single board computer S(BC) built around the quad-core TH1520 SoC. With the Linux 7.1 mainline kernel there is HDMI display support coming now that the Device Tree bits have been added… ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Upgrades Its WSL2 Kernel Against Linux 6.18 LTS
Microsoft on Friday released linux-msft-wsl-6.18.20.1 as the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) kernel updated against the Linux 6.18 LTS series… ⌘ Read more

FSMOUNT_NAMESPACE Feature Coming For Linux 7.1
Among the new VFS features expected to land for the upcoming Linux 7.1 merge window is FSMOUNT_NAMESPACE… ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Upgrades Its WSL2 Kernel Against Linux 6.18 LTS
Microsoft on Friday released linux-msft-wsl-6.18.20.1 as the Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL2) kernel updated against the Linux 6.18 LTS series… ⌘ Read more

Intel’s New Shader Compiler “Jay” Merged For Mesa 26.1
It was just a few days ago that Jay was publicly posted as the new shader compiler in-development for Intel GPUs on Linux for both their ANV Vulkan and Iris Gallium3D drivers. While still very experimental, that initial Jay compiler code was merged today for Mesa 26.1-devel… ⌘ Read more

VMUFAT File-System Driver Proposed For The Linux Kernel
The newest Linux file-system driver proposed for the kernel is… VMUFAT… ⌘ Read more

Linux 7.0 Ready For Release With Many Exciting Changes
The Linux 7.0 kernel is gearing up for its stable release and should be out this coming Sunday, 12 April, barring any major last minute issues… ⌘ Read more

France’s Government Is Ditching Windows For Linux
France says it plans to move some government computers from Windows to Linux as part of a broader push for digital sovereignty and reduced dependence on U.S. technology. TechCrunch reports: In a statement, French minister David Amiel said (translated) that the effort was to “regain control of our digital destiny” by relying less on U.S. tech companies. Amiel said that the Fre … ⌘ Read more

Firefox 149 vs. Chrome 147 Web Browser Performance On Linux
It has been a while since featuring a showdown of the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers on Linux. With some fresh benchmarks being overdue plus the new JetStream 3 browser benchmark having been announced last week, here is some fresh data for how these two dominant web browsers are competing on the modern Linux desktop from an Intel Panther Lake system running Ubuntu 26.04. ⌘ Read more

Linux 2026 “Spring Cleaning” To Address Some Code Remnants As Far Back As Linux v0.1
A big kernel patch series was posted today by longtime Linux developer Thomas Gleixner. The set of 38 patches amount to some big time “spring cleaning” with addressing some code remnants still around that originated back in the very early Linux v0.1 kernel while some other code being cleaned up dates back to the Linux 1.3~2.1 kernel series from the 90’s… ⌘ Read more